Adam and Eve, 1504

In this famous engraving, Albrecht Dürer’s primary interest was not Adam and Eve’s imminent sin, but introducing the German public to perfectly constructed classical forms of man and woman. In a sense, he proclaimed that the art of antiquity could lead artists back to an artistic Eden, a place of perfect God-given beauty. Dürer usually monogrammed his prints, but he attached such significance to this one that he signed it in full. He also included his address, a sign that he expected the work to reach distant audiences—as it has. The clarity and lushness of this particular sheet place it among the best examples of Dürer’s printmaking in any American public collection.

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